The present invention relates to a computer-aided production planning method and system for drafting a production plan for a given period for a production line including a plurality of production processes and a salvage process (or disassembly process).
The following procedure is generally used to carry out production planning for a production system employing a production line with a salvage process. First, (1) a plan is drafted. Then, (2) the process load is determined through simulation. If there is a problem with the drafted plan, the plan is modified and step (2) is repeated.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-282824 (Patent Document 1) discloses a technique which performs a backward simulation, that is, tracing back the process flow, for a production system employing a refabrication process in order to determine the equipment load.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-244716 (Patent Document 2) discloses a production line capability evaluation system applied to a production system employing a refabrication process. This evaluation system can automatically detect a bottleneck in the production line and suggest a remedial measure together with the effect of the measure.